Our View: Preventing a disaster waiting to happen

Thursday

Jul 24, 2014 at 6:30 PM

The day after South End neighborhood leaders urged the City Council Committee on Public Safety to address a mounting list of safety concerns at the King Philip Mill complex, a city man was sentenced to 12½ years in prison for an arson fire he set to a building just 20 feet away from the old mill.

Herald News Editorial Board

The day after South End neighborhood leaders urged the City Council Committee on Public Safety to address a mounting list of safety concerns at the King Philip Mill complex, a city man was sentenced to 12½ years in prison for an arson fire he set to a building just 20 feet away from the old mill.

Fortunately, firefighters were able to stop the Jan. 3, 2012, blaze from spreading to the larger three-mill complex, which almost certainly would have become an inferno.

The convergence of events underscores the danger posed to the neighborhood surrounding the mill, which is a disaster waiting to happen. Environmental Protection Agency officials recently identified 50 large drums inside the complex, which has no sprinklers or smoke detectors and a troubling track record of arson and squatters.

Adding to the trouble: The recent reduction of firefighters, leaving the city more vulnerable in the event of a major mill fire. Fortunately, the chemical drums will be cleaned up by the EPA, at least taking that volatile hazard out of the mix once that work is complete.

With the mill’s previous owner, David Chow, owing $520,000 in back taxes, the city had been trying to take ownership of the mill since 2011. On June 13, Land Court granted that wish. But the city now also owns the liability, too.

The city plans to develop some of the property and sell off most of the complex to recoup the back taxes, but it may end up spending much more to secure the property. Adding a greater sense of urgency to the need to secure the mill is the impending closure of Crown Linen, the one remaining business in the building, which has been paying for a fire watcher seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

While it’s a good safety measure, it doesn’t go far enough: Nefarious activity and fireare not as likely to flare up during normal business hours as they are after dark. And even that limited watch will be ending once Crown moves out.

Fire Chief Robert Viveiros has recommended that when Crown Linen vacates, two men keep watch of the mill and the 4-acre property 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Although necessary, that is a pricey proposition.

While the city plans to eventually clean up the site and sell it off, residents in the neighborhood have good reason for concern. As state Rep. Alan Silvia told the City Council Committee on Public Safety Tuesday, “Right now — although that may be valuable property in the future — it’s a death trap at this moment.”

The administration’s failure to develop a safety plan for this property in the three years it had been fighting to take ownership is yet another example of its lack of planning, which threatens public safety and puts the city in a position of liability. For its part, the council’s Public Safety Committee plans to address the issue within three weeks, before the anticipated move of Crown Linen on Aug. 15.

The city has a responsibility to act now. To protect life and property in and around this city-owned property, the administration must take immediate efforts to monitor the property, expel the squatters who continue to take up residence there, and secure this disaster waiting to happen.

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